Barristers to battle it out in Dublin Bay South by-election

Fine Gael candidate James Geoghegan has perhaps the most prestigious legal background, being the son of two retired Supreme Court judges, Mr Justice Hugh Geoghegan and Mrs Justice Finlay Geoghegan.

He qualified as a barrister in 2013 and continues to practise as a barrister alongside his role on Dublin City Council as a councillor for the Pembroke Electoral Area.

His Fianna Fáil rival is Deirdre Conroy, who was the litigant in the landmark D v Ireland case in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Ms Conroy, who called to the Bar in 2016, announced in 2018 that she had joined Fianna Fáil because of leader Micheál Martin’s “brave” explanation of his late-day decision to back repeal of the Eighth Amendment.

Her election campaign is being managed by barrister Jim O’Callaghan SC, a Fianna Fáil TD for the same constituency and the party’s former justice spokesperson.

The Green Party, the most junior partner in the ruling FF-FG-Green coalition, has not yet named its candidate – but one of the two contenders for the title is Hazel Chu, who qualified as a barrister in 2007.

Ms Chu, currently the Lord Mayor of Dublin, was the first Irish-born person of Chinese descent to be called to the Bar, though she never went on to practise as a barrister.

The Labour Party has selected Ivana Bacik, a qualified barrister and prominent legal academic who has co-​authored texts on crime, human rights and constitutional law and currently leads her party in the Seanad.

Ms Bacik is the Reid professor of criminal law, criminology and penology, as well as a senior lecturer and Fellow, at Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

The remaining serious contender in the by-election is Sinn Féin candidate Lynn Boylan, who is also currently a member of the Seanad.

Ms Boylan has no legal qualifications, though is one of the sponsors of a recently-introduced private member’s bill which proposes to exclude the value of free or partly free board as income when applying for civil legal aid.

A date has not yet been set for the by-election but it is expected to take place in July.